The National Council of Students criticizes the lack of assumed leadership at the Ministry of Education, a few days after the portfolio was temporarily taken over by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan. The students’ representatives say that the situation shows that education has become a politically avoided field and they demand an urgent meeting with the head of the Government.
The criticism brought by the National Council of Students
“How did the position of Minister of Education become the most undesirable position in Romania?” is the title of the document sent by the National Council of Students, in which it criticizes the situation in education.
“The National Council of Students notes, with bitter irony, that more than 20 days after the release of the chair of Minister of Education and Research, the only solution identified to ensure leadership was the taking over of the interim by the Prime Minister of Romania. The fact that no person has assumed the position of Minister of Education and Research reveals an alarming reality – education is perceived as a risky portfolio, avoided due to political pressures and restrictive measures to be imposed”he writes in the document.
Those who drafted the position are of the opinion that “This unprecedented situation comes against the background of deep instability generated in the system in the last year. The drastic measures adopted under the umbrella of “reform” and “austerity” – from massive budget cuts and the reduction of school grants, to the merging of schools, the increase of didactic standards and the elimination of more than 14,000 positions in education – have shaken the Romanian school from its foundations.”
“The position in which the head of the Executive is now is a paradoxical one”
At the same time, it is shown in the reaction:
“The resignation of the former minister was perceived, for a significant part of the direct beneficiaries of education, as a possible opportunity to reset priorities and reconnect public policies with the real needs and demands of students. However, the hope that the beginning of a new year could bring a change of vision was quickly replaced by a state of deep disappointment, fueled by the absence of clear and assumed solutions for the leadership of the ministry”.
The representatives of the Council criticize the fact that Ilie Bolojan assumed his interim role.
“The position in which the head of the executive now finds himself is a paradoxical one: he is temporarily taking over the management of a sector on which he has constantly had critical public positions and in which the first and largest sectoral budget cuts were applied, in the context of combating the budget deficit. If the interim will be long-term, the prime minister will also be the one who will negotiate and outline the education and research budget for 2026, at a key moment for the stability of the system.”
“Education, a field lacking a clear direction”
Criticism also continues towards the education system itself.
“A ministry left without leadership for almost a month, then taken over by the prime minister in extremis, represents an alarm signal. Education seems, in these times, a field lacking a clear direction, managed ad hoc by the very people who caused its crisis. Over the years, education has been turned into a political tool, used for electoral propaganda or budget adjustments, thus losing its fundamental purpose. A series of systemic dysfunctions arise from this: a school whose relevance to life is constantly questioned, students who do not know their rights and who are trained in a climate of coercion and fear, students who choose to leave Romania in search of real recognition for their work, performance required without being supported by sufficient and adequate resources, as well as the shortcomings of a system that should guarantee free and fair access to education.”
In the same document, the student representatives request a meeting with Prime Minister Bolojan.
“The National Council of Students expresses its disappointment with the way education is treated at the level of central decisions, highlighting the lack of real commitment to an essential field for Romanian society. In this sense, we request an audience with the Prime Minister of Romania, to directly discuss the real needs of students and the future of education, from the perspective of the direct beneficiaries of the system. Education cannot be postponed or sacrificed, and students have the right to a stable, functional and fair system, built on responsible and responsible decisions.”
